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Verizon Tries To Raise Worker Morale After Service Spat

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

Dozens of Verizon workers protested on Monday.

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By RICHARD MULLINS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 11, 2008

TAMPA - Executives at Verizon Communications Inc. have started sending pep talks to their local employees, asserting that the company is providing top-notch customer service.

Verizon's senior vice president and general manager of the Southeast region, Suri Surinder, wrote in an e-mail to employees Tuesday that "We take a strong stand for customer service."

Surinder's comments come as several Verizon employees have come forward to claim the company focuses more on pushing customers to buy new services, rather than untangling their bills or answering their questions.

Verizon has acknowledged several glitches with its rollout of the FiOS fiber-optic system for phone, Internet and cable TV -- including shortages of the free HDTVs the company offered to new subscribers, shortages of HDTV set-top boxes and longer-than-usual repair times to fix traditional phone lines.

Surinder has said the company received just 69 billing complaints in January and February, out of several hundred thousand new FiOS customers. During the same period, 66 people filed complaints with Florida's attorney general about Verizon's service, according to state data.

Meanwhile, the Tampa City Council has scheduled a forum on May 1 for customers to talk about their issues and for the company to offer its perspective.

And Verizon's largest labor union has started protesting Verizon locations over the issue of customer service.

Wednesday, Surinder issued a bullet-point rebuttal to several recent issues.

Surinder said Verizon is seeing "fewer billing problems than ever before" related to FiOS and is investing "tens of millions of dollars so far this year" on improving its core network.

On the topic of selling, Surinder said, "Sales are very important to our business and we compensate our sales reps very generously for selling services that benefit our customers. However, sales are not the only requirement of the rep's job." They also are compensated for reaching customer satisfaction goals.

Verizon spokesman Bob Elek confirmed the content of the memo and said such messages aimed at boosting morale are pretty common at Verizon

Surinder concluded, "While we always look for opportunities to improve, we must work every day to deliver the kind of service our customers will brag about."

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919 or rmullins@tampatrib.com.

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